Fables Creator Comments on Once Upon a Time

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Many Fables fans accuse ABC's Once Upon a Time of being a rip off. So what does the creator of Fables think?

By Eric Goldman

Ever since Once Upon a Time was announced, fans of the comic book Fables have accused the ABC series of being a rip off. Two things kept being brought up: the basic similarity in their scenarios (fairy tale characters having left their world and living among us in modern day America), and the fact that a few years ago, ABC was developing a potential Fables TV series.

Fables creator Bill Willingham has finally decided to comment on the situation, writing a piece for Comic Book Resources -- in the guise of an interview, though Willingham wrote both the questions and the answers.

In a nutshell, Willingham is not upset about Once Upon a Time, answering the question of whether it's a rip off of Fables with, "My best guess, based upon the scanty evidence, is probably not." He says he feels the show is probably inspired by Fables, "but perhaps not on more than a 'this is the type of thing that's in the air these days' level," and reveals he's spoken directly to Once creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis and is satisfied with what they told him.

As for the "but ABC was once developing Fables!" point, Willingham writes, "I can imagine many scenarios that don't involve anyone at ABC or the Once camp doing anything nefarious. In fact, one would have to be mightily conspiracy minded to suspect some sort of attempt to do a Fables knockoff so as not to pay for it. It's much easier to presume a situation where, since the Fables deal fell through, for whatever of so many possible reasons, some of the folks at ABC still wanted to do something in that subgenre and found a way to do it. No villains needed in this version. No smoking gun. Remember, this is the age where fairy tale and folklore based stories are in the air. Fables didn't start it. In that light, it would be harder to imagine situations where there weren't plenty of similar projects making the rounds."

Snow White, meet Snow White

Elaborating on why he's not upset if Fables was an influence on Once Upon a Time, Willingham mentions several updated fairy tale stories that influenced him when he came up with Fables, including Fractured Fairy Tales, The 10th Kingdom, The Charmings, Into the Woods, Castle Waiting, "and so many more."

He goes on to say that the reason he's doing this interview is "Partly as a call to arms -- or more accurately, a call to disarm. As grateful as I am to discover so many loyal Fables readers, willing to man the barricades, to help protect a story they love; as much as it moves me to realize I've been part in creating something that clearly moves you, affecting your lives in ways only a good story, well-told can, I think it's time to lay off. Perhaps it's time to quit rising up in public venues to accuse these folks of Grand Theft Fables, even if you still think it's so."

Willingham goes on to say he likes Once Upon a Time and that he looks for stories that make him want to come back each week, noting, "Once does that for me." And as for Sheriff Graham in Once Upon a Time, many have wondered if he's actually the Big Bad Wolf, who plays a key role in Fables as… the sheriff.

Says Willingham of Graham, "Yeah, if it turned out he was actually the Big Bad Wolf, I might have started to get a wee bit territorial. But he's not," adding he knows this because he simply asked Horowitz and Kitsis. He then coyly adds, "Sheriff Graham is exactly who I guessed he might be. But I won't give that away."

You can read Willingham's full piece, where he states, "there's no war here," over at CBR.